trick or treat!

just tossing a few childhood Halloween rememberies around in my mind the last few days...

...there would always be a few little treats & a card from "the Head Spook" waiting for us when we woke up in the morning. the Head Spook had very shaky, scary handwriting too!

...my round orange plastic jack-o-lantern bucket with the black plastic handle for trick-or-treating. no pillowcase or "characters" for my bucket!

...my grandparents' neighbors across the street, the Downs family, had the best driveway. it was long & it wound its way from the road to their front door. Mrs Downs would answer the door always wearing her sword-through-the-head headband and she would make us come into the foyer as she called Mr Downs so they could admire our costumes.

...the skeleton that sat on the bench in Aunt Freida & Uncle Fred's breezeway (my Gram's brother and sister-in-law who lived two house up the street from my Gram's house).

...the year Dad took us out wearing furry orange monster hands & a tail. he put them on, on the sly, and told us he was turning into a monster! i was a little scared--but the fun, delicious kind of scared!

...the night always ended in a stop at Aunt El & Uncle Will's for treats (my Gram's sister and brother-in-law who lived on the other side of "the Hill"). we would get apples from Minor's Farm where Uncle Will worked and baggies filled with goodies as we warmed up from the cool night (or dried out from walking in the rain). Aunt El & Uncle Will would always paint their sliders with Halloween images & spooky words; i would stand in front of the sliders, taking it all in, then would peek between the painted designs, marveling at the view we couldn't see from Gram's house through all the trees.

... watching "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" on tv. i would always hide my face while the Headless Horseman chased Ichabod Crane through Sleepy Hollow, but couldn't resist peeking through my fingers as he hurled his jack-o-lantern head at Ichabod.

...the scary-faced ceramic jack-o-lantern Dad put out every year. i think that may have been one of my very favorite holiday decorations.